Utah woman charged with murder in baby deaths

ADVANCE FOR MONDAY APRIL 21 - FILE - This file photo provided by the Utah County jail shows Megan Huntsman, who was booked into the Utah County jail on suspicion of killing six of her newborn children over the past decade. Seven dead babies were found in a garage at a Pleasant Grove home where Huntsman lived up until 2011. Huntsman is scheduled to appear in court April 21, 2014. (AP Photo/Utah County Jail)

PROVO, Utah — A Utah woman was charged Monday with six counts of first-degree murder in the killing of her six babies over a decade, but she cannot face the death penalty if convicted, prosecutors said.

Defendant Megan Huntsman, 39, is accused of killing the babies between 1996 and 2006, before Utah law was changed in 2007 to make murder a capital offense if a victim was younger than 14, Utah County Attorney Jeff Buhman said outside court after a hearing in the case.

Until the law was passed, killing a child was not considered one of the aggravating factors that can make someone eligible for the death penalty, he said.

Such factors also include the victim being a police officer, the killing occurring while another crime, such as rape, was committed, or if the defendant has already been convicted of another murder.

Authorities say Huntsman was the mother of the babies and they were awaiting DNA testing to confirm that along with the sex of the children. Their causes of death also remains uncertain.

The bodies of the infants were found on April 12 in boxes in Huntsman’s garage in Pleasant Grove. A seventh infant found in the garage is believed to have been stillborn.

During her brief court appearance, Huntsman mostly kept her eyes focused on the ground as she was informed of the charges and her case was assigned to a judge.

Her wrists were shackled to her waist, and she was wearing baggy, orange jail pants and a green shirt.

Defense attorney Doug Thompson told reporters after court that he has spoken with Huntsman but did not want to provide details on her state of mind.

“She seems fine but I don’t really want to get into any of that,” he said.

Prosecutors filed six first-degree murder charges against Huntsman. Each carries a possible sentence of five years to life.

Buhman said a medical examiner has completed autopsies on the babies.

“We basically have an initial report so we have some information but not a lot yet,” Buhman said, declining to provide further information.

Buhman said investigators will have to rely on reports from the medical examiner and a forensic anthropologist, along with Huntsman’s statements to police, to determine the cause of death.

Huntsman’s estranged husband, Darren West, discovered one of the infant corpses in the garage on April 12. Police responded and found a total of seven tiny bodies in cardboard boxes.

Police said Huntsman acknowledged that from 1996 to 2006, she strangled or suffocated six of the babies, put them in plastic bags and packed them inside boxes in the garage south of Salt Lake City.